Stupid Girl
by NeverLookBackSamurai
Summary: Victoria Island is ruled by the cruel Eldarian regime. One man: determined to destroy it and bring peace back to the nation. A woman: bound to an unwanted life, mourning her childhood love. Pasts, disappearances, romance, danger. Will two youths prevail?


Disclaimer: We do not own Maple Story or any material related to Nexon in any way or form. I do not own Rejin, who belongs to one of my most adored friends. I only own Ame.

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Note: Our story is set in a mildly AU Maple Story. The style of writing may/will change due to two authors writing jointly.

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It was almost dawn, the vast expanse of a royal-purple sky fading into a rich orange as the sun began to rise over Henesys, home of the Archers and capital of Victoria Island. Over the past few decades, the small town had boomed into a flourishing city, where a new empire had reigned over the island: the Eldaria. Athena Pierce had come to a compromise with the new regime to allow the expansion of the town, but still keep the woodlands around the city, _"To preserve the way of the Archers and Nature itself,"_ she had said. She had also reluctantly permitted a small manor to be built in the lot near her home, where the Eldarian government oversaw their many onerous tasks in running an entire continent. The master bow-woman had also agreed to let the three other types of warriors come and go freely to trade and establish businesses within the city. The rest of Victoria had followed Athena's example, and the entire populace of the island lived in relative peace.

Unfortunately, underneath that tranquility, a raging inferno was loose. The Eldarian Empire's reign was one based solely on cruelty and fear. Resignation, hate, and rebellion flooded through the hearts and minds of Victoria's populace. For too long, hope had faded to a mere match-flame, so small it was nearly snuffed completely. Still, the people hoped for the day someone would free them from the oppression, for the day when they could rename their government as the Democracy of Victoria Island.

As the golden ball began to rise over the wooded hills, a lone figure trudged along a dirt path lined with tall grass on the outskirts of Henesys. She wore a pair of sandblasted jeans, a black halter-top, traveler's boots, and a brown messenger bag slung over one shoulder. Silver hair flowed down her back from under a black head bandana with a red leaf printed on it, stopping just below her shoulder blades, and a sweep of bangs hung down on the left side of her face, covering one of the woman's strikingly bright teal eyes. She stopped, opening the bag she was carrying, and pulled out a water bottle, being careful not to disturb the various scrolls she had neatly arranged between the folds of fabric. Taking a draught, the young woman closed her eyes, frowning a bit at the water trickling down her chin, and the thought of the irksome task she had been assigned by her master, Henesys' local apothecary Luna.

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_"Ame, you are to take these order forms to Fumio, the Herb Grower. He lives to the east, at the furthest reaches of the city." Cerulean eyes gazed at the scrolls handed to her by the crotchety old woman, a slight sigh escaping Ame's lips as she ascended the stairs to her second-floor bedroom to gather her things for the trip._

_"And make sure you're back in an hour!" Luna yelled, turning to welcome a customer who had just walked through the door. _

_"Bitchy old woman…" Ame murmured, stuffing the scrolls into her messenger bag before snatching up a few water bottles. How she would love to say that to Luna's face! Unfortunately, that could result in her being severely punished, as Luna was the main apothecary to the head of the Eldarian empire. So silently, Ame turned, ready to go back down the stairs, when she spotted her gold Fairy Wand lying beside a stack of magic books. After a moment's consideration, she pocketed it, snapping her fingers to shrink it in size, like her other master, Grendel the Really Old, had taught her to do._

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Thus was Ame trudging wearily through the hot sun, sometimes shaded by sparsely growing trees, other times walking straight through the unforgiving heat. She kept her head down, trying to keep her sensitive eyes from being dazzled by the sunlight, but without much success. Eventually, she came to the beginning of a densely wooded area of the outskirts of Henesys. She paused before the trees became thick, trying to peer through the gloomy light at the pathway that would surely lead to the Herb Grower Luna had spoken about. Tentatively, Ame began to tread through the forest, glancing at every sudden sound hidden by the trees. She walked for a full ten minutes, without any sign of the path ending, before Ame heard a noise that was definitely not the sound of a squirrel dropping an acorn. It sounded more like the heavy footfalls of someone wearing boots… Or a group of people wearing boots.

"Well, well! What do we have here?" Ame stopped short, as five men emerged from the bushes, each as burly and disgusting as the next.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a _girl_!" cackled one who had an eyepatch over one eye. The group had her surrounded, and Ame recognized the danger immediately.

"Oh, _shit_," she muttered, eyes darting left and right, feet scuffing in the dirt as she turned to face each man, who were all steadily marching toward her, hands reaching for weapons or ropes, Ame couldn't tell. But she knew they meant her no good.

"Wow, boss. She's got a mouth on her!" Ame's eyes narrowed at an abnormally skinny man with crooked teeth and scars across his cheeks and neck.

"Yeah. I bet she'd fetch a pretty price back home…" Azure eyes stared at the fattest man in the group, wondering how in the world he could move with such a massive body. Her piercing gaze held the slightest hint of fear, however, as she let her fingers probe in her pocket, searching feverishly for her miniature wand.

_"Damn it, where is it?!"_

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Less than fifty yards away, a shadow crept swiftly and silently through the trees, making no noise as the figure made its way toward the source of commotion on black-sandaled feet. Half-gloved hands flashed upward as the identity swung himself upward onto a tree branch, perching quietly on a sturdy russet bough. The young man looked to be about twenty, but his hard, earthen eyes suggested a personage of much more experience than his age hinted at. Short, dark blue hair was confined by a raven headband, and his face was covered from the nose down by a black bandana. The rest of his body was completely clothed in obsidian, a skin-tight sleeveless shirt clinging to the young man's lean body, which was as lithe as the rogues from Kerning City. Slightly loose, black cargo pants, a few weapon pouches strung about his waist, and a sword sheathed across his back completed his outfit.

The young man still remained silent as he watched the group of bandits surround the young woman, sighing to himself. The bandits were doing no justice to the city of Kerning by terrorizing passersby.

He watched the young woman fish around in her pocket for a while, the bandits poised to attack just as she brought out a gold and sapphire wand, striking down two men with a spell that looked as though she had thrown two blue claws at them. Whirling around, she dropped her messenger bag, and dodged the lunge from another bandit. She dropped into an archer stance, and a beam of pure light developed into a bow and arrow, which she shot at the man, stunning him. The last two bandits remaining charged, one diving for the woman's legs, the other began grappling with her, punching her in the ribs. Nearly panicking as she began to double over from the pain, she freed one leg from a weak hold around her ankles, and brought her knee up hard into the man's groin. He staggered back and she kicked the other man in the face, falling backward into the dirt. The young man's eyebrows raised slightly as he caught a glimpse of her face; she looked very, _very_ familiar to him.

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Ame glanced around at the five unconscious men around her. Or at the very least, if they weren't unconscious, they were certainly not going to get up any time soon. She was gasping, coughing because of the raised dust in the air. She felt her left side and winced, the bandit's punch was certainly going to leave a serious bruise if Ame didn't do anything about it. So she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting a flood of lime-colored healing magic wash over her from the earth. She exhaled and the stream dissipated, leaving only a slight discomfort in her side, as though her ribs had been bruised a few days ago instead of seconds. She looked around for her bag, thrown carelessly somewhere in the dirt, unaware that the bandit she had kneed was slowly getting up. In his hand was a dagger, and he was slowly advancing upon Ame's back. After finding what she sought, she turned around, her eyes widening as she saw the man. She rushed to bring up a guard against the inevitable attack, but before the man even had time to bring his arm down, something dark and heavy collided with him, sending him sprawling headlong into the dirt, knocked out cold.

Ame opened her eyes and looked up at her rescuer, before immediately wishing she hadn't. The man now standing before her, his brown eyes gazing coldly at the man he had attacked, was none other than the most wanted man on Victoria Island. The "Invisible Shadow", as they called him on the wanted posters. A rush of pure terror shot through Ame's system when earthen eyes met hers, and before she realized what she was doing, she had raised her Fairy Wand in both hands and fired off a stunning spell at him. The young man had no time to react, much less bring up some kind of guard, before he was swept off his feet and expelled several yards backward, landing, unable to move, on a particularly rocky patch of the pathway.

Ame took cautious steps forward toward him, holding out the golden weapon before her with all color drained from her face. Her eyes were dangerously narrow, her breathing heightened as she stopped just a few inches short from the incapacitated man. She saw a slightly irritated look on his face as she slowly made her way to his side, before kneeling down and slipping two slender fingers between the mask fabric and his skin. Ame didn't know why she was going to do it, but she felt compelled to at least know what the assassin truly looked like so she could tell the authorities. Shoving her weapon into his neck threateningly, she tried to steady herself, trying to make herself look as dangerous as possible. Needless to say, she was failing miserably. Swallowing hard, she yanked down the fabric, before freezing altogether, the man's face registering all too clearly in her mind.

"… Rejin?"

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NLBS: I didn't want to let this idea rot on my hard drive, so I decided to put just the first chapter out there. I also cannot speak for my brilliant friend, his opinions and feelings about this story, but we had both had the idea to post this on ff eventually. To him, I have the utmost gratitude, not just for this story, but for everything.


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